Being a firefigher Im not convinced that this would work for locating children in fires for a couple of reasons.
First, if most people are like me they tend to put all the electronic gizmos in one place when they are home not carry them around with them. Also most of the children searched for are less than 5 or 6 years old. Not many kids that young carry pagers and cell phones.
Second, the main condition in a structure fire is CSS (Cant See S---). A more appropriate tool for searching in the dark is a Thermal Imaging (TI) camera. The TI uses infrared to see heat sources rather than relying on visible light, which is blocked by smoke. The GPS may be useful if it is integrated into a TI but I think that would raise the already high cost of a TI ($10,000US+ for a basic model)
Slashdot Mirror
First, if most people are like me they tend to put all the electronic gizmos in one place when they are home not carry them around with them. Also most of the children searched for are less than 5 or 6 years old. Not many kids that young carry pagers and cell phones.
Second, the main condition in a structure fire is CSS (Cant See S---). A more appropriate tool for searching in the dark is a Thermal Imaging (TI) camera. The TI uses infrared to see heat sources rather than relying on visible light, which is blocked by smoke. The GPS may be useful if it is integrated into a TI but I think that would raise the already high cost of a TI ($10,000US+ for a basic model)